Question

In an exothermic reaction, heat is

released into the surroundings. How does this affect entropy?
particles in the surroundings move slower and have decreased entropy.
• B. The particles in the surroundings move faster and have increased entropy.
•C. The particles in the surroundings move
surroundings move slower and have increased entropy.
• D. The entropy is not affected by this.

Answer 1

B. the particles in the surroundings move faster and have increased entropy

Step-by-step explanation:

An exothermic process releases heat, causing the temperatures of the surroundings to increase. Entropy increases as temperature increases. Since an exothermic reaction releases heat to the surroundings, molecules in the surroundings will begin to move faster because they will absorb more energy, which increases their kinetic energy. An increase in temperatures means that the particles of the surroundings have greater kinetic energy. The faster moving particals have more disorder than particles that are moving more slowly at a lower temperature. Entropy is interpreted as the degree of disorder/randomness.